WDIV, our local NBC station, stopped by Wednesday and interviewed Marc about eWallet. We were all pretty excited to see him - and our software - on the evening news!
You can see it here; the video link is right under the photo.
The emphasis on the iPhone is theirs - Marc showed versions of several devices, and they picked which parts to use (in the car, going back to Detroit, apparently. I’m impressed).
Anyway, check it out; Marc looks and sounds very professional. I guess all those years of voice training paid off.
Marc just forwarded me an email with some scans from Simply Her magazine, a womens/fashion magazine based in Singapore, that mentioned eWallet! We’re all pretty excited to be in a fashion magazine, especially given some of the comments on our wardrobe choices posted in response to our group photo a few years ago (yes, I know, we did ask for them).
Anyway, the April issue isn’t on their site yet, but I’m hoping the eWallet mention is included when it is. And I’ll definitely looking for a copy of the magazine in our local B+N and Borders.
Many thanks, Shane, for letting us know about this!
People are always talking about “smart” systems. These are automated systems that are meant to make a company more efficient, drive sales, and provide a great customer experience. Often, and unfortunately, the implementation of these systems goes hand in hand with cutting back on the role of real people in the process. Time and again, these “smart” systems prove incredibly stupid.
This whole issue is particularly important to us right now, because we’re working on some “smart” systems of our own. Where are they a good thing and where are they a pain? How do you use them in a way that really does make life better rather than more complicated? Read on for my thoughts and a chance to voice your own opinion!
So here is an example of a “smart” system gone horribly wrong. A friend of mine ordered some flowers from an online flower shop. After that he started getting their personalized emails (“Hey Joe! Time to buy some roses!”) advertising all sorts of great opportunities to buy flowers. He tried the remove button but it didn’t work.
Then, this week, he gets an email reading:
“Joe, send Mary Valentine’s Roses and Save 20%!”
The problem here is that the reason Joe bought flowers originally was to buy flowers for his niece Mary’s funeral. Will Joe ever buy flowers from this company again? Certainly not. The smart system designed to drive sales has just guaranteed that this customer will never buy from them again. In fact, he’ll probably go around telling other people not to buy from them.
On the other hand, take your average Voicemail system. I LOVE voicemail. Many years ago, when I worked in Real Estate before Voicemail became common place, I used to have endless problems trying to get messages to people, and more importantly, get them to the person accurately. With Voicemail they always here exactly what I want them to hear. It’s direct, efficient, and effective.
OK, so what does all this mean to Ilium Software? Well we’re working on a way that will let people who are requesting unlock codes (“I lost my codes but need to reinstall. Can you send them?”) get them automatically, rather than waiting for us to process the request manually. It seems like a great idea, but even this sort of automated system can get really frustrating.
Take this example. Bob buys eWallet for Pocket PC with one email address and eWallet for desktop with another. He fills out the form, asking for his eWallet for Pocket PC codes, but he uses the desktop purchase email address. We write back:
“Sorry. We can’t find your purchase.”
To which Bob replies “What do you mean I didn’t buy it? Of course I bought it!” and now everyone is frustrated.
So I guess the question is this…as long as there is a way to still talk to a real person, does the advantage of instant code responses that are right most of the time outweigh those occasions where the “smart system” does something stupid? I mean we’re still there to help in person (call us, email us, we’re there) if the smart system botches the job. Or is there no amount of speed that can outweigh those moments of smart system stupidity?
We want to make sure because the goal here is to get you guys the information you need faster, but not at the expense of good service.
A few related posts and articles I found interesting this morning:
Users’ Bad Habits Invite Malware, Forum Says. I have very mixed feelings about this. I’m a huge fan of being careful. I drown boxes of old business cards rather than just throwing them out, shred everything with anyone’s info on it, even things like holiday cards, and have told my favorite aunt she’s not allowed to send me email until she learns the difference between CC: and BCC:. But I’m not a fan at all of the “blame the users” approach to problems, which I think is much too prevalent among technical people. Yes, people are afraid of change, as the article says, but with good reason. Who hasn’t installed or upgraded some software, only to find their PC not working as well, or not working at all? And who believes that even the most conscientious use of security software and techniques is going to stop all the malware? Not me.
People should practice good security - absolutely. But that alone isn’t going to be enough. The internet infrastructure, particularly email, has to change. And I’d love to see installed software behaving a lot better as well.
But speaking of practicing good security, Marc sent me a fun page describing why Passwords are like Underwear. I particularly liked the illustrations. Maybe I’ll send it to my aunt.
And, finally, getting back to mobile, Tariq at Eten Blog dot Com is publishing a very in-depth interview he did with representatives of a few of the major mobile developers. The interview will be published in 4 parts (it’s long) - the first one is online here. Check it out if you’re interested!
If you subscribe to the comments feed on this blog, or read them online, and have been seeing a lot of spam among them recently, we apologize! Somehow, our filter plug-in got disabled. We’ve fixed it now, and are in the process of upgrading our WordPress installation to get the very latest in security. Thanks to everyone who wrote us about the problem, and I hope it won’t happen again.
Congratulations to Chris, who won our most recent Uninstall Survey Drawing! As many of you know, when you uninstall one of our products it brings up a quick “Why are you uninstalling?” survey. As a thank you to those of you who take the time to fill this out for us, we draw a name randomly from the list of submitters and give away a $100 Amazon.com gift card. So congrats Chris! Hope you find something fun to buy!
And on a Product Management note, I love this survey. I learn SO much about the people who are using our product from reading the comments posted in these. To other developers out there, it’s a wonderful way to learn about just what it is your customers want from the product!
WDIV, our local NBC station, stopped by Wednesday and interviewed Marc about eWallet. We were all pretty excited to see him - and our software - on the evening news!
Marc just forwarded me an email with some scans from 
*(I wrote this Monday. I’m publishing it Tuesday because we 